More post-game quotes

“I think we got a little bit of our personality back, and the style that we wanted to play. To score a goal, I thought Ward was outstanding. The good thing about our club, we didn’t get frustrated. We didn’t turn things over. We didn’t try to force the issue. Just stayed within the style of game we needed to play.”

“I wasn’t surprised. I think we’ve been a pretty patient team in those situations all year long: Third periods this year, even down a goal, we haven’t opened up. And we just stayed with it. I think that’s been a big positive this year with our club. I thought our start tonight was better, although we end up taking a couple of penalties that takes a little momentum away from us. But, even when we got to the overtime; we got the point and I was on the bench thinking to myself, ‘That’s the way we have to play.’ And then we find a way to get the extra point.”

Asked if anybody else could score that goal Zuccarello scored:

“I don’t know. Did it go straight up? Did it deflect? Good for him. And you know what I liked, and I like looking at these things on tape, it wasn’t an individual celebration. He got excited but then looked right to the bench. He’s a likeable kid. I don’t know where it all settles here as we get through, but good for him. It must be exciting for him.

“You hope he scores another one. He’s a confident kid. He understands. He asks the right questions. He minds his own business and goes about it, and is learning to be a pro in North America. I don’t think he lacks confidence. Creative people, they need that. But he should feel good about it. It’s obviously a huge two points for us, and it’s a big goal by him.”

On the young guys fitting in so well:

“I think the young guys that have been here are just maturing. Look at Dubinsky. You know? He’s hard, he makes a huge play on that goal as far as just not giving in. He’s been hard on the boards, and I don’t want to just single him out, but all of our kids are maturing. It think when you bring up a Zuccarello and players like that who have come up here, I think the American League coaches have done a pretty good job in their conditioning, because I think they’re in really good shape. It’s been as seamless as it can be as far as callups coming through here.”

On Gilroy:

“He didn’t piss and moan. He stayed within himself. He practiced hard. When he got the opportunity, he played good games. Nothing extraordinary, but played steady. Has shown us he’s working in the defensive part of the game. You can see his confidence in his pinching. So he just stayed with it. He was aggravated that he wasn’t playing, as any pro should be, but he just kept himself ready. Remember, the times I sat him out, and I always say this, he wasn’t that bad a player. We just decided the other six were better. That’s a decision we made and now Gilly has kind of swung that a bit. Good for him. He’s playing with the right type of arrogance.”

On Avery playing even in the late stages of a 1-0 and 1-1 game:

“Well, I thought early on Sean was on. And I switched. I put Sean up with Artie and Gabby and I moved (Frolov) down — not that Fro did anything wrong, but i just wanted to switch that. We’re asking for forechecking out of Sean and we got that early on. He made a couple of good plays, so we stayed with it. I thought it was one of his better games in a while.”

On the first half of the season:

“As I talked before the game we’re going to have to be a better team. We’re going to have to work on the details because the games are going to be tougher. Again, I think we’re in the right direction. I know we’re in the right direction. But there’s a fine line between winning and losing hockey games, no matter what’s going on with your club — and I’m really excited about a lot of things going on with this team — there’s a fine line between winning and losing, and that comes down to details.

“I’ll just give you an example. Brian Boyle’s line plays a helluva game against (Eric) Staal’s line. I mean, that Staal’s an animal. He is one helluva player, and I thought they played really stiff against them. One mistake, losing the center on a lost draw, a basic thing, ties the game. Those are things we’re going to have to continue to work at. We can’t afford to make that mistake, and I’m not trying to criticize Brian, because he played a really good game. But that’s where we are, and that’s what happens the second half of the year — the small things. So we have to continue to work at that and remain with our personality as a team and that’s what we were tonight, and be consistent with it.”

On the Eminger play to break up the 3-on-1.

“It’s a huge play. We didn’t give up too many odd-man rushes, but that was a doozy. And he makes a great play. It’s hard to teach that. He filled a lot of ice and made a great play there. Details? A big play, a fine line of a good defensive play vs. an offensive play, that’s what’s going to win games in the second half. So we need to try to keep our concentration there.”

Sadly, I fell asleep during the third period, while laying down and listening to it. I had a pounding headache, and I missed Zucca’s first goal :(

But Im so happy he got it in a win, and like the truest of professionals, he knows he cant rest on his Laurels and that practice is tomorrow and focus is on the next game. Bravo kiddo! May there be greatness in his future.

LGR! A great response to 2 stinkers in Florida. A great bounceback from a young and growing team.

The thing about Avery is that throughout his career, he has never been able to handle big minutes. Torts has to ration Avery’s icetime over the course of the season. Torts is an Adams candidate for sure. I think he is doing a great job with these kids. For years, fans have been clamouring for the kids to get a chance. Well, here we are. Props to Torts for giving them a chance, and props to Torts for keeping Avery’s icetime in check.

Craig Ramsay and maybe Guy Boucher are the other Adams finalists at the season’s midpoint. I’d probably give it to Ramsay over Torts.

But I think you’re spot on about Avery cw, he’s a bottom 6 forward that got chances to play top 6 minutes earlier in his Rangers career because of the lack of depth on those teams and he can handle occasional shifts up with the top lines when he’s physically and mentally engaged in the game. However when and why he decides to put in a decent effort is anyone’s guess but at least for last night he looked like he wanted to play.

It’s really beginning to look like the Pens and Flyers are making the East a two team race for the conference this year. The Caps don’t have the patsies in the SE to fatten up on this year and as great as it is to see Tampa and Atlanta give it a go in that division I don’t think they’re quite ready to run with the big boys this year but who knows what can happen in the spring. Still, if the Rangers get healthy over the 2nd half they’ll definitely be a team that will make it tough on their opponent. The 6th seed might be the best one to get, since it looks like the NE winner will get the 3 seed and I think the Rangers could beat anyone from that division with a full roster. No Cup parade just yet, but there is value in having the young players taste a round or two of playoff hockey while they continue to build the core.

And it’s really painful to watch Drury play at this point. He’s not fast enough to keep up with the play if the game goes end to end and not big enough to bs overly effective along the boards. I know he missed a lot of time but man do a lot of pucks get by him. I know they’re stuck with him and they’re already giving most of his ice time to Stepan/AA/Boyle but he’s really looking like the game has severely passed him by.

Lots of positives from last night, but some standouts: Love the Kings’ games lately (cuz I’m quick to be on him when he’s letting in softies, as he did too often earlier in the season) and man oh man, when Dubinsky uses his skill and strength he’s a force very few NHL defensemen can handle down low.

Staal had another strong game on the backline. This guy is evolving into a Norris calibre defenseman right before our eyes – yes he occasionally makes mistakes but so do ALL defensemen (mistakes made by d-men stand-out because so often they result in good scoring opportunities). Let’s not forget he’s not even 24 years old yet (and only in his 4th professional season) – how good will he be in 2 to 3 years??

And I concur with the sentiment about Dreary – yes part of his problem is he missed the first 1/3 of the season, but OMG he looks grievously slow (and is receiving the appropriate icetime to match). If this is what his entire season ends up being, I wonder if Sather will buy him out of his final season. What’s the cap hit if that happens? Does anyone know?

great game and sweet goal by zuccarello. where did the “assen” go? they just called him zuccarello lately. i know it wont fit on the jersey. duby has been great and finally gaborik looked like our best player.and if we get some guys back we should be in great shape. im wondering if prospals even going to play at all this year. unless theres more injuries, who do they take out for him/ frolov? thats about it right now. hell, as much as i like aves, last night was very uncommon for him the past 2 years. he might be playing for his spot just to stay on the 4th line at this point. maybe vinnys close and its him or frolov coming out. either way, the competition during the season for playing time is making this team better. torts knows what hes doing using the kids to his advantage by giving them more icetime and by not sitting them for a vet. i dont think zucc wouldve played last night however if cally and prospal had been healthy. but good for him for scoring a huge goal. he is comical with his interviews too.

i agree about drury too. whenever hes out there, i never think, “oh we might score here”. its more like, “oh, ok, when is the next line change?” hes so boring too. his tempo is always the same. nothing ever exciting happens when he is out there. he needs to give the C to a worthy candidate. but i love when he blocks shots. man oh man, it never gets old watching him crumple to the ice after blocking a shot that wouldve went way wide or hank wouldve saved. its painfully obvious that is his only redeeming factor right now, i love when michelob-etti praises him so much. he just makes drurys mediocre play stand out even more.

still loving the win last night. did anyone see the pic of the hug between Zucca and Boyle? classic.

Torts has now referred to both Marc and Eric as animals. someone needs to ask him to clarify which animal goes with which players. is one a horse and another a giraffe? how about a lion and a caribou? it would make for great television just to see his reaction when the question is asked,

That may have something to do with the fact that Lidstom’s been playing since the 1560-61 season.

I couldnt stay awake for the entire game but from what I saw they really battled to break the goal scoring drought. Ward isn’t the easiest goalie to go up against when you’re in need of putting a few away. Good effort. Good win. Dallas next.

I think I saw this right. With about 2 minutes left in the game and a face off in the Rangers zone Torts had Drury and Artie on the ice but had Artie take the FO which he won.
Good to see Torts showing confidence in him and Artie responding. It’s the details. It was a big FO to win.

Jim, sorry I should have clarified the calculation. It’s the “savings” category you need to look at. They save $3.33M next year but will be negative $1.67M for the one season extra that Drury isn’t on the team.

If you combine that with Prospal, Frolov, Eminger and Fedotenko not getting re-signed you do get some cap space. However Dubinksy and Staal will require raises as will Boyle and Sauer will get a bump but not as much as the first 3. The question then becomes what you do with any of that excess cap space. I know people have been making the push for Brad Richards, between trading and signing him this year or just signing him in the off-season, the latter makes more sense. However he’s going to expensive and unlike Drury he’s going to steal time from Stepan and AA because you just know that Torts is going to use him pretty heavily.

Lidstrom is the active leader in on ice goals for with 2,458 which ranks him 9th all time. So at about +900, considering the best teams in the league score about 300 goals a year these days, I’ll take a guy that’s been on the ice for 3 seasons worth of positive goal differential.

I like Dubi’s quote from the MDZ interview link Carp posted the other day.

“The best thing about (Zuccarello) is he’s just a sponge,” Dubinsky said. “He’s willing to soak in and he’s always wondering what he should’ve done. Sometimes I have to tell him to just relax and play his game rather than worry about what I think or what Steps thinks. But I think that just shows that he wants to get better and that he wants to be a big part and be something special for this team. He’s going to be.”

CT: Thanks – and 1 minor correction: Maybe when you included Staal in your list of guys who be in line for raises this summer you meant Cally. Staal just signed a 4 year deal that averages under $4,000,000/per, which given the progress we’re seeing this year will likely prove in the next year or so to be a great bargain.

Just so I understand – are you saying Dreary’s cap hit, should he be bought out over the summer, is $1,700,000 for 11/12 and 11/13? How much they have to pay Dreary to me is irrelevant – the Rangers can afford it.

Yes, buyouts are a bit tricky because the cap his based off the player’s actual salary and not their average annual value. So since his actual salary for next year is $5.0M and the buyout cost is $1.67M, you “save” the excess in cap space. But the other part of the buy out formula is you lengthen the term to twice as long as the remaining years left on the contract, thus the extra year at $1.67M

someone on another board explained it perfectly. hockey is not the #1 sport in norway but zuccca is a fan favorite and helped to put norwegian hockey on the map.

i missed the goal somewhat last night cause i had to work but i did get to run up on the tv and check out the replay. so happy he finally got one (i still think he deflected gaboriks power play goal in his first game) and hope that hell start putting up points consistently. i hope now some of you can see he has skill and most importantly vision. and you cant teach vision.

swedish elite league may not be tough but its producing some great talent that is fun to watch.

What I like about having Zuccarello on the team is the fun aspect of it. He’s fun to watch. What is really amusing is when he goes into the boards with an opponent and the other player whacks him and then looks at him sort of amazed, as though he is saying, ” Is this all there is?”.

He’s a little darter, and actually I think that lends to his effectiveness…he is so small even by St Louis standards
that he surprises the other team’s players. I’d keep him around for the comedy relief effect if nothing else.